Hero balance changes to Zenyatta’s Orb of Discord on July 11 have been a hot button topic for Overwatch 2 conversation, and while everyone seems to agree that Zenyatta’s flagship ability was nerfed, it doesn’t appear to address the root of the issues some players had with the omnic monk.
Popular Twitch streamer Emongg is among the most well-known tank players in Overwatch 2, and as someone who plays on the competitive ladder for a substantive number of hours a day, he has quickly noticed that the changes to Zenyatta haven’t done what tank players felt needed to be done to Orb of Discord.
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“The idea was that if Zenyatta was really far away or had to play closer, then they wouldn’t Discord as much,” he said. “But then most Zenyattas now will just Discord the tank which is like, a part of the problem to begin with.”
For Emongg, the change makes being a tank that much more frustrating because now there isn’t as much of a chance that Orb of Discord will be used on anyone other than them, making it difficult, and at times impossible, to do the typical things you would want to do as a tank player.
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“It makes it difficult for the tank to be able to do anything or want to do anything,” he said. “You just get Discorded and can’t take that much damage.”
Emongg went on to discuss that tanks frequently want to operate in that 20-30 meter range of an enemy Zenyatta’s typical positioning during a fight, and more often than not, that range does not include opportunities for them to get rid of the debuff by hiding for cover. At the same time, if they kite away to get rid of the debuff, the Zenyatta can just walk forward and the enemy team will gain a spacing advantage in the fight as well.
